~bzr-pqm/bzr/bzr.dev

================================
Simplifying Bazaar Configuration
================================

Goal
====

Not all needs can be addressed by the default values used inside bzr and
bzrlib, no matter how well they are chosen (and they are ;).

Options that are rarely used don't deserve a corresponding command line
switch in one or several commands.

Many parts of ``bzrlib`` depends on some constants though and the user
should be able to customize the behavior to suit his needs so these
constants need to become configuration options or more generally, be easier
to set.

These options can be set from the command-line, acquired from an environment
variable or recorded in a configuration file.

To simplify writing (and reading), this document refers to the old and new
config designs:
* the old design is using ``Config`` as a base class for all config files,
* the new design use ``ConfigStacks`` of ``Section`` from config ``Stores``.


Current issues
==============

* Many parts of ``bzrlib`` declare constants and there is no way for the
  user to look at or modify them (see http://pad.lv/832061).

* The old design requires a configuration object to create, modify or delete
  a configuration option in a given configuration file.  ``bzr config``
  makes it almost transparent for the user. Internally though, not all cases
  are handled: only BranchConfig implements chained configs, nothing is
  provided at the repository level and too many plugins define their own
  section or even their own config file. (config.Stack now provides a way to
  chain config files, BranchStack properly implements the desired behavior,
  ``bzr config`` uses the new design).

* ``locations.conf`` defines the options that need to override any setting
  in ``branch.conf`` for both local and remotes branches (but some remote
  branch options just ignore ``locations.conf``). Many users want a way to
  define default values for options that are not defined in ``branch.conf``
  (and even more users think that ``locations.conf`` provide default values,
  see also http://pad.lv/843211 and http://pad.lv/832046). This could be
  approximated today by *not* defining these options in ``branch.conf`` but
  in ``locations.conf`` instead. This workaround doesn't allow a user to
  define defaults in ``locations.conf`` and override them in
  ``branch.conf``. (Allowing sections in 'bazaar.conf' (or introducing a new
  defaults.conf' allowing sections) can now address that. Defining and using
  a new file is easier as it avoids handling a migration path for
  bazaar.conf and doesn't require banning the use of sections for special
  purpose needs (ALIASES and BOOKMARKS for example)).

* Defining a new option requires adding a new method in the ``Config``
  object to get access to features like:

  * should the option be inherited by more specific sections, (this was more
    or less the default in the old design, it is addressed by section
    matchers in the new one by letting users define options in whatever
    relevant section and let the matcher select the right ones).

  * should the inherited value append the relative path between the section
    one and the location it applies to (see http://pad.lv/832013, fixed),

  * the default value (including calling any python code that may be
    required to calculate this value)(see http://pad.lv/832064, fixed),

  * priority between sections in various config files (this is defined by
    the section matcher associated with a given config store for stacks,
    http://pad.lv/832046 is about adding a section matcher with clearer
    semantics than the one used for locations.conf).

  A related problem is that, in the actual implementation, some
  configuration options have defined methods, others don't and this is
  inconsistent. (Using only Stacks addresses that).

* Access to the 'active' configuration option value from the command line
  doesn't give access to the specific section. This is a concern if the user
  has no other way to address a specific configuration option including
  Store and Section when using ``bzr config`` (see
  http://pad.lv/725234). Plugins defining their own stacks and/or stores
  also have no way to properly plug into ``bzr config`` (see
  http://pad.lv/788991).

* Rules for configuration options are not clearly defined for remote
  branches (they may differ between dumb and smart servers the former will
  use the local ``bazaar.conf`` and ``locations.conf`` files while the later
  will use (or ignore ?) the remote ones).

* The features offered by the Bazaar configuration files should be easily
  accessible to plugin authors either by supporting plugin configuration
  options in the configuration files or allowing the plugins to define their
  own configuration files. (Separating Section, Store and Stack starts
  addressing that, a stack registry should complete the needed means
  http://pad.lv/832036).

* While the actual configuration files support sections, they are used in
  mutually exclusive ways that make it impossible to offer the same set of
  features to all configuration files:

  * ``bazaar.conf`` use arbitrary names for sections. ``DEFAULT`` is used
    for global options, ``ALIASES`` are used to define command aliases,
    plugins can define their own sections, some plugins do that
    (``bzr-bookmarks`` use ``BOOKMARKS`` for example), some other define
    their own sections (this is addressed with the new design by using only
    the ``DEFAULT`` section and ignore the others. When needed, one can
    create a specific stack to get access to a specific section).

  * ``locations.conf`` use globs as section names. This provides an easy
    way to associate a set of options to a matching working tree or
    branch, including remote ones.

  * ``branch.conf`` doesn't use any section.

  This is addressed by defining different stacks selecting the relevant
  sections from the stores involved. ``ALIASES`` for example can define a
  stack that select only the ``ALIASES`` section from ``bazaar.conf``.

* There is no easy way to get configuration options for a given repository
  or an arbitrary path. Working trees and branches are generally organized
  in hierarchies and being able to share the option definitions is an often
  required feature. This can also address some needs exhibited by various
  branch schemes like looms, pipeline, colocated branches and nested
  trees. Being able to specify options *in* a working tree could also help
  support conflict resolution options for a given file, directory or
  subtree (see http://pad.lv/359320).

* Since sections allow different definitions for the same option (in the
  same store), a total order should be defined between sections to select
  the right definition for a given context (paths or globs for
  ``locations.conf`` but other schemes can be used, window names for qbzr,
  repository UUIDs for bzr-svn for example). Allowing globs for section
  names is harmful in this respect since the order is currently defined as
  being based on the number of path components. The caveat here is that if
  the order is always defined for a given set of sections it can change when
  one or several globs are modified and the user may get surprising and
  unwanted results in these cases. The lexicographical order is otherwise
  fine to define what section is more specific than another. (This may not
  be a problem in real life since longer globs are generally more specific
  than shorter ones and explicit paths should also be longer than matching
  globs. That may leave a glob and a path of equal length in a gray area but
  in practice using ``bzr config`` should give enough feedback to address
  them. See also http://pad.lv/832046 asking for a less magical section
  matcher).

* Internally, configuration files (and their fallbacks, ``bazaar.conf`` and
  ``locations.conf`` for ``branch.conf``) are read every time *one* option is
  queried. Likewise, setting or deleting a configuration option implies
  writing the configuration file *immediately* after re-reading the file to
  avoid racing updates (see http://pad.lv/832042).

* The current implementation use a mix of transport-based and direct file
  systems operations (Addressed by Store implementation relying on
  transports only and the hpss implementing the corresponding verbs).

* While the underlying ``ConfigObj`` implementation provides an
  interpolation feature, the ``bzrlib`` implementation doesn't provide an
  easy handling of templates where other configuration options can be
  interpolated. Instead, ``locations.conf`` (and only it) allows for
  ``appendpath`` and ``norecurse``. (Cross-section, cross-file interpolation
  and section local options are now implemented in the new design).

* Inherited list values can't be modified, a more specific configuration can
  only redefine the whole list.

* There is no easy way to define dicts (the most obvious one being to use a
  dedicated section which is already overloaded). Using embedded sections
  for this would not be practical either if we keep using a no-name section
  for default values. In a few known cases, a bencoded dict is stored in a
  config value, so while this isn't user-friendly, not providing a better
  alternative shouldn't be a concern. A possible, limited, implementation
  can be envisioned: limiting the dict to a single level only, with simple
  names as keys and unicode strings as values. The keys can then be mapped
  to options prefixed with the dict name.


Proposed implementation
=======================


Configuration files definition
------------------------------

While of course configurations files can be versioned they are not intended
to be accessed in sync with the files they refer to (one can imagine
handling versioned properties this way but this is *not* what the bazaar
configuration files are targeted at). ``bzr`` will always refer to
configuration files as they exist on disk when an option is queried or set.

The configuration files are generally local to the file system but some of
them can be accessed remotely (``branch.conf``, ``repo.conf``).


Naming
------

Option names are organized into a name space for a given stack. One such set
includes ``bazaar.conf``, ``locations.conf``, ``branch.conf``, etc. Plugins
can define their own sets for their own needs. While it is conceivable that
the same option name can be used in unrelated configuration stacks, it seems
better to define a single name space for all options if only to avoid
ambiguities.

Using a name space is meant to help:

* avoid collisions between bzr and plugins and between plugins,

* discover the available options and making them easier to remember,

* organise the documentation for the option set.

Using valid python identifiers is recommended but not enforced (but we may
do so in the future).

The option name space is organized by topic:

* bzrlib options are grouped by topic (``branch``, ``tree``, ``repo``)

* plugins are encouraged (but not required) to prefix their specific options
  with their name (``qbzr.`` for qbzr)

* collisions are detected at registration time so users are protected from
  incompatibilities between plugins,

* options that need to be used by several plugins (or shared between ``bzr``
  core and plugins) should be discussed but these discussions are already
  happening so the risk of misuse is low enough.

Value
-----

All option values are text. They are provided as Unicode strings to API
users with some refinements:

* boolean values can be obtained for a set of acceptable strings (yes/no,
  y/n, on/off, etc), (implemented with the ``from_unicode`` parameter)

* a list of strings from a value containing a comma separated list of
  strings.

Since the configuration files can be edited by the user, ``bzr`` doesn't
expect their content to be valid at all times. Instead, the code using
options should be ready to handle *invalid* values by warning the user and
falling back to a default value.

Likely, if an option is not defined in any configuration file, the code
should fallback to a default value (helpers should be provided by the API to
handle common cases: warning the user, getting a particular type of value,
returning a default value)(most of that is now handled at Option definition).

This also ensures compatibility with values provided via environment
variables or from the command line (where no validation can be expected
either)(done in the new design).


Option expansion
----------------

Some option values can be templates and contain references to other
options. This is especially useful to define URLs in sections shared for
multiple branches for example. It can also be used to describe commands
where some parameters are set by ``bzrlib`` at runtime.

Since option values are text-only, and to avoid clashing with other option
expansion (also known as interpolation) syntaxes, references are enclosed
with curly brackets::

  push_location = lp:~{launchpad_username}/bzr/{nick}

In the example above, ``launchpad_username`` is an already defined
configuration option while ``nick`` is the branch nickname and is set when a
configuration applies to a given branch.

The interpolation implementation should accept an additional dict so that
``bzrlib`` or plugins can define references that can be expanded without
being existing configuration options::

  diff_command={cmd} {cmd_opts} {file_a} {file_b}

There are two common errors that should be handled when handling interpolation:

* loops: when a configuration value refers to itself, directly or indirectly,

* undefined references: when a configuration value refers to an unknown option.

The loop handling can be modified to allow cross-sections and cross-files
interpolation: if an option refers to itself (directly or indirectly) during
an expansion, the fallback sections or files can be queried for its value.

This allows list values to refer to the definition in the less specific
configurations::

  bazaar.conf:
    debug_flags = hpss

  branch.conf for mybranch:
    debug_flags = {debug_flags}, hpssdetail

  $ bzr -d mybranch config debug_flags
  hpss, hpssdetail

Undefined references are detected if they are not defined in any
configuration. This will trigger errors while displaying the value. Diagnosing
typos should be doable in this case.

Configuration file syntax
-------------------------

The configuration file is mostly an ``ini-file``. It contains ``name = value``
lines grouped in sections. A section starts with a string enclosed in squared
brackets ('[section_name]`), this string uniquely identifies the section in
the file. Comments are allowed by prefixing them with the '#' character.

A section is named by the path (or some other unuique identifier) it should
apply to (more examples below).

When sections are used, they provide a finer grain of configuration by
defining option sets that apply to some working trees, branches,
repositories (or any kind of context) or part of them. The relationship
between a given context and the sections it applies to is defined by the
config file.

So far, Bazaar uses a glob in ``locations.conf`` and select the sections
that apply to a given url (or a local path).

The subset is defined by the common leading path or a glob.

Different kinds of section names can be defined:

* a full url: used to described options for remote branches and
  repositories (LocationMatcher supports this).

* local absolute path: used for working trees, branches or repositories
  on the local disks (LocationMatcher supports this).

* relative path: the path is relative to the configuration file and can be
  used for colocated branches or threads in a loom, i.e any working tree,
  branch or repository that is located in a place related to the
  configuration file path. Some configuration files may define this path
  relationship in specific ways to make them easier to use (i.e. if a config
  file is somewhere below ``.bzr`` and refers to threads in a loom for
  example, the relative path would be the thread name, it doesn't have to be
  an *exact* relative path, as long as its interpretation is unambiguous and
  clear for the user) (No section matchers support this so far, needs to
  file a bug)

Section matching
----------------

Section names define another name space (than the option names one) with an
entirely different purpose: in a given configuration file, for a given
context, only some sections will be relevant and will be queried in a
specific order.

This matching is specific to each config file and implemented by the
SectionMatcher objects.

Whatever this matching does, the user can observe the results with the ``bzr
config`` command which displays the sections in the order they are queried.

LocationMatcher
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The context here is either:

* an URL,

* a local path.

Note that for both the provided context and the section names, if an URL uses
a ``file:///`` form, it is converted to a local path.

The sections names can use globs for each path component
(i.e. ``/dir/*/subdir`` is allowed but ``/dir/\*\*/subdir`` will match
``/dir/a/subdir`` but not ``/dir/a/b/subdir``. 

The reason is that the ordering is defined by sorting the section names
matching the context on the number of path components followed by the path
itself in lexicographical order. This results in most specific sections being
queried before the more generic ones.

PathMatcher
~~~~~~~~~~~

``LocationMatcher`` has some obscure (for unaware users) edge cases and
limitations that can be surprising. ``PathMatcher`` aims at addressing these
issues by providing simpler rules while still giving full control to the
user (http://pad.lv/832046).

The context here is a local path, absolute or relative. If the path is
relative it is interpreted from the file base directory.

Note that 'base directory' for configuration files in Bazaar directories is
really:

* the home directory for files under ``~/.bazaar``,

* the ``.bzr`` base directory for files under ``.bzr``.

The order is the one observed in the file so most generic values are specified
first and most specific ones last. As such, the order in the file is the
opposite of the one displayed by ``bzr config`` which displays most specific
values first. This seems to be the most natural order in both cases.

A section matches if the section name is a prefix of the context path
(relative paths being converted to absolute on the fly).

The Option object
-----------------

(copied from a recent version of bzr.dev for easier reading, refer to the
original for an up to date version)

The Option object is used to define its properties:

* name: a name: a valid python identifier (even if it's not used as an
  identifier in python itself). This is also used to register the option.

* default: the default value that Stack.get() should return if no
  value can be found for the option.

* default_from_env: a list of environment variables. The first variable set
  will provide a default value overriding 'default' which remains the
  default value if *no* environment variable is set.

* help: a doc string describing the option, the first line should be a
  summary and can be followed by a blank line and a more detailed
  explanation.

* from_unicode: a callable accepting a unicode string and returning a
  suitable value for the option. If the string cannot be coerced it should
  return None.

* invalid: the action to be taken when an invalid value is encountered in a
  store (during a Stack.get()).

The Section object
------------------

Options are grouped into sections which share some properties with the well
known dict objects:

* the key is the name,
* you can get, set and remove an option,
* the value is a unicode string.

MutableSection is needed to set or remove an option, ReadOnlySection should
be used otherwise.

The Store object
----------------

This is an implementation-level object that should rarely be used directly.

* it can be local or remote

* locking

  All lock operations should be implemented via transport objects. (True for
  Store).

* option life cycle

  Working trees, branches and repositories should define a config attribute
  following the same life cycle as their lock: the associated config file is
  read once and written once if needed. This should minimize the file system
  accesses or the network requests. There is no known racing scenarios for
  configuration options, changing the existing implementation to this less
  constrained one shouldn't introduce any. Yet, in order to detect such
  racing scenarios, we can add a check that the current content of the
  configuration file is the expected one before writing the new content and
  emit warnings if differences occur. The checks should be performed for the
  modified values only. As of today (and in the foreseeable future), the
  size of the configuration files are small enough to be kept in memory (see
  http://pad.lv/832042).

The Stack object
-----------------

This the object that provides access to the needed features:

* getting an option value,

* setting an option value,

* deleting an option value,

* handling a list of configuration files and for each of them a section
  matcher providing the sections that should be tried in the given order to
  find an option.

* handling a Store and a section where option creation, modification and
  deletion will occur.

Depending on the files involved, a working tree, branch or repository object
(or more generally a context) should be provided to access the corresponding
configuration files. Note that providing a working tree object also
implicitly provides the associated branch and repository object so only one
of them is required (or none for configuration files specific to the user
like ``bazaar.conf``).

Getting an option value
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Depending on the option, there are various places where it can be defined
and several ways to override these settings when needed.

The following lists all possible places where a configuration option can
be defined, but some options will make sense in only some of them. The
first to define a value for an option wins (None is therefore used to
express that an option is not set).

* command-line
  ``-Ooption=value`` see http://pad.lv/491196.

* ``~/.bazaar/locations.conf``

  When an option is set in ``locations.conf`` it overrides any other
  configuration file. This should be used with care as it allows setting a
  different value than what is recommended by the project

* ``tree`` (Not Implemented Yet)

  The options related to the working tree.

  This includes all options related to commits, ignored files, junk files,
  etc.

  Note that the sections defined there can use relative paths if some
  options should apply to a subtree or some specific files only.

  See http://pad.lv/430538 and http://pad.lv/654998.

* ``branch`` located in ``.bzr/branch/branch.conf``

  The options related to the branch.

  Sections can be defined for colocated branches or loom threads.

* ``repository`` (Not Implemented Yet)

  The options related to the repository.

  Using an option to describe whether or not a repository is shared could
  help address http://pad.lv/342119 but this will probably requires a format
  bump).

* ``project`` (Not Implemented Yet)

  The options common to all branches and working trees for a project.

* ``organization`` (Not Implemented Yet)

  The options common to all branches and working trees for an organization.

  See http://pad.lv/419854.

* ``system`` (Not Implemented Yet but see http://pad.lv/419854 and
  https://code.launchpad.net/~thomir/bzr/add-global-config/+merge/69592)

  The options common to all users of a system (may be /etc/bzr/defaults
  or /usr/local/etc/bzr/defaults or
  /Library/Preferences/com.canonical.defaults  or c:\windows\bazaar.conf
  (someone fix this one please ;) depending on the OS).

* ``bazaar.conf``

  The options the user has selected for the host he is using.

  Sections can be defined for both remote and local branches to define
  default values (i.e. the most common use of ``locations.conf`` today).

* default (implemented by the OptionRegistry)

  The options defined in the ``bzr`` source code.

  This will be implemented via the Option objects.

Plugins can define additional configuration files as they see fit and
insert them in this list, see their documentation for details.

Compatibility
=============

There are ways to keep the same files while ensuring compatibility via various
tricks but there are cases where using new files to replace the old ones is
definitely easier:

* no need to ensure that the new files are correctly handled by old bzr
  versions,

* making it clear for users that there is a switch and let them migrate at
  their own pace.

The known cases so far are described below.

Obvious at this point:

* Branch provides ``get_config`` for the old design and ``get_config_stack``
  for the new design so that both designs are supported. Once the store
  sharing is implemented, we may want to use an attribute for the stack and
  deprecate both ``get_config`` and ``get_config_stack``.

* Sections names in ``bazaar.conf`` are arbitrary (except ``DEFAULT``) so
  it's easier to leave the file untouched and let plugin authors and users
  migrate away (or not) from them. For ``bzr`` itself, that means
  ``DEFAULT`` is the only section used for most of the options and provides
  user defaults. ``ALIASES`` requires a specific stack but only the ``bzr
  alias`` command cares about that.

* Option policies should be deprecated:

  * The ``norecurse`` policy is useless, all options are recursive by
    default. If specific values are needed for specific paths, they can just
    be defined as such (in the appropriate sections or files).

  * The ``appendpath`` policy should be implemented via interpolation and a
    ``relpath`` option provided by the configuration framework
    (http://pad.lv/832013).

* Section order in ``locations.conf`` has issues which make a migration to a
  different way to organize the sections (hence the file content) far easier
  with a new file.

* ``locations.conf`` is really for overrides but many users have been using it
  to provide defaults. There is no way to know if the whole content has been
  used for defaults or overrides or a mix of both. So there is no way to
  migrate this automatically.

Unclear at this point:

* [BOOKMARKS] section can be replaced by ``bookmarks.xxx`` options (the
  bookmarks plugins already uses ``bookmarks_xxx`` in branch.conf since no
  sections were supported there). The easiest here is probably to just merge
  the plugin into core and use the appropriate option names consistently. A
  ``config:`` directory service may even be better as any option can be used
  as a bookmark. This allows things like::

    [/whatever/path]
    my_push = lp:<launchpad.login>/xxx/{nick}
    web_site=ftp://example.com/

    bzr push config:web_site

  Which means we completely replace the plugin and don't need to care about
  migrating the section.

* [ALIASES] section can be replaced by corresponding bzr.alias.xxx
  options. This could be automated by creating the corresponding options ?

* I don't know about other sections, feedback welcome. Plugin authors are
  encouraged to migrate to the new name space scheme by prefixing their
  options with their plugin name.

Notes
=====

These are random notes about concepts, ideas or issues not implemented yet.

Developer facing concepts
-------------------------

Option
~~~~~~

* list of allowed Config IDs (this allows a list of possible config files in
  bazaar.conf only option and use it while bootstrapping the config
  creations). 

* blacklist of config IDs (some options *can't* be stored (modified) by the
  user)

An alternative is to just let the devs decide which stack they use for a
given option, ``stacked_on_location`` for example is said to relate to the
branch only and changing it or setting it in a different config file may not
be appropriate. This may not be a good example as there is also the
``default_stack_on`` option which can be set only in ``control.conf``
though...

Stack
~~~~~

* a lazy cache for the option values (should be reset on modifications as
  interpolations will make it tricky to update incrementally) (see FIXME in
  config.py Stack.get()))

* ensures that the Stores involved generate as less IOs as possible (see
  http://pad.lv/832042)

* ensures that the transaction is the object life time (i.e. modifications
  will be taken into account *iff* they are committed explicitly).

StackRegistry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* ensures that a config ID is a unique identifier
* register Stacks

Store
~~~~~

* ensures that the transaction is the object life time (i.e. modifications
  will be taken into account *iff* they are committed explicitly).

Examples
--------

store examples:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* ConfigObj (bazaar.conf)

* DB (<scheme>://bazaar.launchpad.net/bazaar.conf)


Why and when locking config files matter
----------------------------------------

This is relevant for http://pad.lv/832042.

``bzr`` behavior, as well as the objects it acts upon, is configured via a
set of so-called configuration files.

These files allow to define working trees, branches and repositories, their
relationships and how ``bzr`` should handle them.

The default behavior of ``bzr`` is aimed at making this configuration as
transparent as possible by keeping track of how these objects are created
and modified when they are used. In short, they are useless until you want
to change the default behavior in some specific context.

We mostly **read** config options. Therefore all we care about is to
guarantee that:

* we get a valid config file at all times when reading,

* we always leave a valid config file when writing (via the rename dance)

From there, conceptually, all operations can clearly define whether or not
they need to modify a config file and do so only when they succeed. All
modifications occurring during such an operation are delayed until the very
end of the operation.

Now, we want to minimize the overlapping times where one bzr operation has
changed a value and another concurrent operation is unaware of this
modification.

These overlapping periods are *as of today* rare.

The only known case, http://pad.lv/525571 has been fixed in bzr-2.1.3. The
bug there was triggered when two processes tried to write the same config
file at the same time leaving an invalid file in the end.

Such a period can be recognized and detected though: when changing an option
value, if the preserved original value is different in the config file,
someone else modified it and the operation can be invalid because it relied
on the original value.

For the sake of the example, if an option value represent a global unique ID
via a simple counter (very bad idea), if two operations try to increment it,
both will use the same value that won't be unique anymore. Checking the
value present in the file when trying to save the updated value with
identify such a collision.

An assumption is floating around: it should be enough to report when an
operation is modifying an already modified option and observe that no-one
reports such occurrences.

Note that this assumption is made in a context where *no* known scenarios
exist in the bzr code base not in any plugin (for a best effort value of
'any', feedback highly welcome, bug reports even ;)

With this in mind, we can change the definition of config options, stores
and stacks to ensure that:

* a config file is read only once when in read access,

* a config file is read only once and written only once when in write
  access, adding the check mentioned above will require *one* additional
  read.

A reader can then safely assume that reading a config file gives it a valid
(and coherent) definition of the configuration when the operation
starts. All the operation has to do is to declare which config files may be
modified by an operation (whether or not we can be liberal on this 'may be'
is yet to be defined).